18 States To Delay ACA 'Employee Choice' Program

Law360, New York (June 10, 2014, 6:30 PM ET) -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday approved 18 state requests to delay until 2016 the Affordable Care Act's "employee choice" provision allowing small businesses to offer coverage from multiple insurance plans, accepting arguments that costs would rise too greatly.

The provision had already been pushed back by one year, and HHS' decision to grant every request it received for another delay was met with sharp criticism from the nonprofit Small Business Majority, which described itself as "extremely disappointed" and argued that regulators...